Chris Watts.Photo: Joshua Polson/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Before he at last decided to tell police “the truth,” authorities sayColorado dad Chris Wattstold them a shifting story about his missing wife,Shan’ann Watts, and theirtwo young daughters.
First, according to police, Chris, 33, said he and Shan’ann, 34, had a “civil” but “emotional” conversation about him wanting to separate afternearly six years of marriage.
This was around 5 a.m. on Aug. 13, after Shan’ann had returned from a weekend work trip in Arizona. About 5:30 a.m., Chris said, he loaded his truck and went to work with his wife still in bed.
Later he corrected himself: The conversation about their marriage was at 4 a.m. and “they were both upset and crying.”
Both stories ended the same way: Shan’ann said she was going to go see a friend that day. No, Chris did not know this friend’s name.
A neighbor’s surveillance video confirmed two things for certain: that Shan’ann was dropped off at home just before 2 a.m. on Aug. 13 and that Chris was seen driving away about three and a half hours later.
Three days later, authorities announcedan end to the disappearances. Shan’ann, then 15 weeks pregnant, and daughters Bella and Celeste were dead.
Prosecutors have saidall three were likely killed in their home, in Frederick, butwhat exactly went on behind closed doorsremains, at least to the public, a mystery.
Available court filings in the case indicate that a key dispute may center on the truthfulness ofan alleged confession Chris gave police— in which he pinned the blame for what happened on his wife.
Getting Chris to Talk
Two days after Shan’ann’s disappearance, authorities say, they discovered something crucial that Chris had kept secret: He was allegedly having an affair with a co-worker.
He’d denied cheating on his wife, but a police probe confirmed otherwise, according to investigators.
Under questioning after the alleged affair was revealed, Chris then made a request, according to police: He “said he would tell the truth after speaking with his dad,” who was present at the police station at the time.
His wife and children were dead, he said, and their bodies were concealed at an oil work site.
However, he claimed, he’d strangled Shan’ann in a “rage” after watching her strangle Celeste, 3. He said he saw 4-year-old Bella’s body, still and blue, on her bed. In Chris’ telling, Shan’ann had apparently acted out of revenge: He said he witnessed the strangulation right after telling Shan’ann he wanted to separate.
RELATED VIDEO: Pregnant Mom & 2 Daughters Likely Killed at Home Before Bodies Were Dumped
Once all three were dead, Chris told police, he put their bodies in his truck and drove them to a remote oil field some 40 miles east. There, authorities found Shan’ann in a shallow grave with the girls hidden in oil tanks, where they had been for days.
He is charged with first-degree murder, among other crimes, in all three deaths.
He has not yet entered a plea and remains behind bars, where he has grown “despondent” and depressed, according to a source who has recently spoken with him. “The gravity of the situation has hit him like a ton of bricks,”this source told PEOPLEearlier this week.
Chris and Shanann Watts.Shanann Watts /Facebook
Shan’ann Watts (right) and her daughters.Shanann Watts /Facebook
Neithercauses of death nor motive in the triple homicidehave been confirmed as Chris’ suspected infidelity draws greater scrutiny.
The co-worker with whom he was allegedly having an affair is not further identified in his arrest affidavit, but a source close to the case told PEOPLE thatshe “is cooperating” with police.
Prosecutors have movedto force Chris to give up copies of his fingerprints and DNA, among other identifying information, to assist in their evidence testing.
His attorney — who has objected to this request as overly vague and lacking probable cause — has filed a flurry of motions related to DNA and evidence testing.
“There is absolutely no evidence that she killed her children,” the source said. “None at all. And there is physical evidence to tie him to their murders.”
RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/Getty
Lingering Questions
Only two parts of the arrest affidavit are redacted, at the defense’s request, though it is unclear why:
Four lines have been removed from the same paragraph where police detail having confirmed Chris was having an affair. A subsequent partial line in the following paragraph, which shows that Chris asked to speak with his father, has also been blacked out.
PEOPLE has been unable to reach Chris’ family for comment. Three days after his arrest, Shan’ann’s brother,Frankie Rzucek, posted on Facebook urging others to leave his relatives in peace, noting they had also suffered a loss.
“My prayers to his family. I pray people don’t harass them or wish harm on anyone,” Rzucek wrote. “God will take care of everyone and everything. They are our family and are hurting just as much. Don’t just pray for us, pray that everyone finds peace and love in their hearts through these unimaginable circumstances.”
source: people.com
